US 12,144,470 B2
Apparatus and methods for paper dispensing
Magnus Falk, Gothenburg (SE); John P. Devlin, Tewksbury, MA (US); Peter McNulty, Seattle, WA (US); Jeffrey Mekler, San Francisco, CA (US); and Nathan Rollins, Boylston, MA (US)
Assigned to ESSITY HYGIENE AND HEALTH AKTIEBOLAG, Gothenburg (SE)
Filed by Essity Hygiene and Health Aktiebolag, Gothenburg (SE)
Filed on Mar. 23, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/209,791.
Application 17/209,791 is a continuation of application No. 16/719,087, filed on Dec. 18, 2019, granted, now 10,980,377.
Prior Publication US 2021/0204765 A1, Jul. 8, 2021
Int. Cl. A47K 10/42 (2006.01); A47K 10/32 (2006.01)
CPC A47K 10/422 (2013.01) [A47K 2010/3233 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A napkin dispensing system comprising:
a dispenser for storing and dispensing individual napkins from a stack thereof, said dispenser having
(a) a bottom wall and a plurality of sidewalls jointly defining an interior volume of the dispenser for storing said napkins therein, and
(b) a lid hingedly coupled to one or more of said sidewalls for selectively allowing access into said interior volume, said lid including a dispensing aperture configured to allow extraction of the napkins one at a time from said interior volume;
(c) a platen arranged within said interior volume of said dispenser and having a paper engaging surface, said platen being movable between a first position adjacent to the bottom wall in which said platen is locked relative to a remainder of said dispenser, and a second position adjacent to the lid, said platen and said paper-engaging surface being obliquely oriented relative to the bottom wall of the dispenser in the first position thereof; and
wherein a stack of interfolded napkins is receivable within said interior volume of said dispenser, said stack of interfolded napkins being supported on said paper-engaging surface, said stack having a generally rectangular footprint, said rectangular footprint including a length not exceeding about 115 mm and a width not exceeding about 95 mm, wherein a ratio of an area of said rectangular footprint to a total effective support area of said paper-engaging surface is between 0.7 and 1,
wherein:
said dispensing aperture has an elongated shape and includes a length dimension and a width dimension,
said dispensing aperture has a centrally located section and a pair of slotted sections each extending from said centrally located section,
said centrally located section has a length no greater than about 40 mm, and
each of said slotted sections has a width no greater than about 13 mm, and
wherein the platen is parallel to the bottom wall of the dispenser in the second position thereof.